In late 2018, the IPCC issued a stark warning. It highlighted that limiting global warming to 1.5 C is crucial to avoiding the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. It also clearly established that achieving the goals of the Paris climate agreement will require action at an unprecedented pace and scale. To maximise the chances of limiting global warming to 1.5 C, all sectors of the economy must achieve significant emissions reductions, and the building sector must fully decarbonise by 2050.

New regulations over the last decade have substantially cut operational energy use in buildings, and with more building product manufacturers now publishing environmental data on their products, now is the time to move towards in-depth life cycle assessment to reveal the full environmental footprint of our buildings, Pat Barry of the Irish Green Building Council tells Passive House Plus.

Passive house veteran Barry McCarron has just taken over as chairperson of the Passive House Association of Ireland for a three-year term. But he believes the unique convergence of national and international events makes 2020 particularly critical for delivering a sustainable built environment.

The digital edition of Passive House Plus has seen a significant increase in readership during the Covid-19 crisis, in addition to the magazine’s marketleading print circulation.

The digital edition of Passive House Plus has seen a significant increase in readership during the Covid-19 crisis, in addition to the magazine’s market-leading print circulation.

The European Commission has adopted the EU’s new circular economy action plan, a major part of the European Green deal. The action plan aims to make the EU economy produce more durable, longerlasting, repairable consumer products, and maximise the use of recycled material.

To ensure anyone who wants to read Passive House Plus can do so easily during this challenging and disrupted time, we’re making the new issue of the magazine completely free to read, both digitally and in print. This edition is essential reading for anyone interested in how to design and spec out low energy, sustainable buildings.

RIBA has published a new in-depth guide to the Enerphit Standard, the Passive House Institute’s benchmark for retrofit projects.

Irish Green Building Council business development manager Marion Jammet reports on work by the IGBC to help make rollout of deep retrofit a reality.

The total amount of CO2 emissions associated with heating Ireland’s homes increased by 8% in 2018, a new report from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has revealed.

New research published by the Passivhaus Trust has shown that the real-terms cost of building to the passive house standard has fallen since the previous study four years ago.

The Environmental Protection Agency's latest figures show that Ireland exceeded its carbon emissions budget in 2018 for the third year running.

The market for ‘green mortgages’ continues to grow with the announcement by AIB that it is introducing lower interest financing for energy efficient properties.

Nine out of ten readers of Passive House Plus have made decisions on building or upgrading projects in response to articles in the magazine – and nearly eight out of ten in response to adverts – according to the results of a survey of readers of the magazine’s UK edition.

The Goldsmith Street development in Norwich has become both the first social housing scheme and the first passive house certified project to win the Stirling Prize, British architecture’s most prestigious award. 

Bank of Ireland has unveiled a suite of green loans and interest rates to encourage home owners and businesses to be more energy efficient. The new initiatives include a green interest rate discount for borrowers buying or building energy efficient homes, and a green home improvement loan for energy efficiency retrofits. Businesses, including farmers, will also be able to access reduced interest rates for investment in energy saving improvements.

A new research project at UCD will aim to uncover key early lessons from the design and operation of nearly zero energy buildings (NZEBs) in Ireland. The NZEB standard will become mandatory in Ireland for dwellings from November.

“Only if we are capable of dwelling, only then can we build.”
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